Public Calls For Unity At Sullivan’s Island Council Meeting

At the recent Sullivan’s Island Town Council meeting, held Tuesday, March 18, there was a plea for town unity from some members of the public during the public comments session.

“Based on last few months of meetings I’d like to address the issue of citizens being allowed to address council during meetings and being aggressive and throwing accusations,” town resident Wayne Stelljes said. “I’d like to suggest public comments not be allowed during the meetings. It’s clearly become a charade, this isn’t open mic night. This is a place for serious business. Enough is enough.”

Nancy Carroll Geckler stood up in support of Stelljes.

“The lessons of history are here on the island,” she said. “There has been a lot of division and a lot of war, we need to learn from history. We don’t need another hurricane to teach us the power of unity. I would plead with you to go to your churches and pray for the spirit of unity.”

In other public comments, resident Heidi Brown appealed to Council to re-consider the proposed installation of a public dock from Ben Sawyer Bridge through the marsh to near her home on St. 21.

“We’re a very fragile little neighborhood there and we have an increasing amount of traffic in our area,” she said. “We’ve been bombarded on all three sides by commercial. In order to get this dock it has to be public, it will be a fishing pier, which means it will have to have water and bathrooms. You can’t park on Ben Sawyer so they’ll all be parking on Patriot’s Street or St. 22,” she said. “Please consider a very small, very fragile little neighborhood.” Mayor Perkis addressed Brown directly.

“We heard you,” he said. “And we have advised the planning commission that Council does not support a dock there. We have an ordinance that prohibits docs between St. 18 and St. 27.”

Loren Ziff stood to express public thanks to Council for their work on the elementary school.

“I wanted to thank Council for all the hard work they’ve done with the school. There’s a lot of excitement within the school about moving over,” he said. “We‘re in the process of looking at ocean touch tanks to really bring the environment into the school and we’re revamping the curriculum to really take advantage of our phenomenal location. Thank you doesn’t even begin to encapsulate it.”

In other construction news the Town Council is actively seeking public input on the construction of the new Town Hall. The Public Facilities Committee met Tuesday, March 25, where the latest changes of conceptual design based on feedback from the community were scheduled to be discussed. To provide input visit www.sullivansisland-sc.com/SITownHallProject.